Shelby Township agrees to pay $75,000 to cop denied promotion

Shelby Township has agreed to pay $75,000 to a police officer who said he was denied a promotion for supporting a recall effort against township officials.

Matthew Stachowicz last month accepted the township’s settlement offer in his federal lawsuit against the township and several Board of Trustees members who were targeted for recall. The settlement was entered Thursday by Judge Victoria Roberts of U.S. District Court.

Stachowicz’s attorney, Sarah Prescott, called the settlement “a good number.”

“He gets the promotion money and a little money in his pocket,” she said. “He felt strongly that his rights were violated and felt like he has made his point in the situation and didn’t need to push it. They did something they shouldn’t have done.”

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Stachowicz claimed his First Amendment right to free speech was violated when he was rejected for a promotion to sergeant in February 2013 even though he was qualified and the promotion was needed. The township Board of Trustees retaliated by eliminating the position rather than promoting him, he said.

The settlement exceeds the $10,000 to $15,000 he lost due to the lack of a promotion. He was promoted in January.

The lawsuit was seeking punitive and emotional-distress damages.

The recall effort never materialized.

Named in the lawsuit were Supervisor Richard Stathakis, then-treasurer Paul Viar, Clerk Stanley Grot, Trustee Paula Filar, then-trustee Michael Flynn and Trustee Douglas Wozniak. Viar is now a trustee and Flynn is treasurer.

Stathakis said he could not comment on advice of township attorneys.

Township attorney Craig Lange said township officials wanted to defend their action in trial because they don’t believe they did anything wrong but were forced by its insurance company, Provident Insurance, to make two offers. Stachowicz turned down the first offer of $50,000.

“I didn’t recommend the settlement,” Lange said. “The township was not anxious to accept it, but the insurance carrier basically insisted we do so.”

Lange contended the sergeant position was eliminated to save money in the deficit budget of the police department. “It was a position of duplication we felt we could do without,” he said.

If the township went to trial, Provident “would have abandoned the defense of the lawsuit on the township’s behalf,” he said.

Provident will pay all but a $10,000 deductible that is the responsibility of the township.

Stachowicz’s recent promotion came after the retirement of several police officers. The eliminated position remains eliminated, Lange said.

The settlement is the second payout in four months the township will make to plaintiffs. The township agreed to pay $745,000 to Nightingale Service for cancelling Nightingale’s towing contract. Nightingale claimed the cancellation was in retaliation for its support of a recall effort against Stathakis and Viar in 2011. The township also spent nearly $300,000 in legal fees.

More than $500,000 was taken from the police department budget to pay the Nightingale expenses. The insurance company paid $500,000 in the Nightingale case.